I grew up in a time when church frequently included special gospel meetings that featured a guest preacher imploring over the course of a week to get right and reap the rewards of heaven or certainly go to hell.  Night after night the message and volume would escalate until a satisfactory number had responded to avoid the punishment of hell.

As a result, my upbringing most of my Christian life has been spent figuring out what “get right” means.  My relationship with God was shallowly based on a set of rules based more in the tradition of my recent ancestors than the Word and Spirit.   It took a couple of family tragedies and a tour to combat for me to reevaluate and search for a deeper foundation [Christ] for my relationship.

The struggles of my God relationship search came flooding back as I read Daniel Pink’s book Drive:  The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us in which he presents a compelling case for a deeper method of personal, peer, and subordinate motivation.  I was struck with how closely the history of motivation parallels the Bible story and my story.

H. Belloc, in his essay, “The Little Old Man”, said, “ that of everything which runs or creeps upon earth, man is the fullest of sorrow”. Sometimes, the events of life send Belloc’s observation about sorrow cascading deep into our psyches. We may feel overcome, even overwhelmed by the loss of loved ones that seem almost impossible to bear. But, over time, great sorrow is replaced by joyful confidence that God is with us and all is well.

Jesus was described once by the prophet Isaiah as “a man of sorrows”. A being that could have had anything He wanted, and died on a cross, how strange that would seem to a person who didn’t know the greatest story ever told! But, now, He does have everything, eternity in heaven with His loving Father! From Calvary’s misery to heaven’s glory . He’s home, home at last. And He calls us home too. Little sheep, come home to Me, and be safe at last, safe at last.

We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in despair…, struck down, but not destroyed… For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. Selections from I Corinthians Chapter 4 (NIV)

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2 (NIV)

Have you ever been on the “outside” of things?  Remember when certain ones were chosen last to be on teams in their childhood?  It was usually the same person all the time.  We all want to belong, sometimes desperately.  How sad it is for those who want to be on the “inside” and are held on the “outside”.  Wouldn’t it be grand if there were a place where who you were didn’t make a bit of difference to those who were there, and there you would be accepted, loved and even adored?  There is!

It’s the family of God, a community of believers, who because of what was done for them, would do anything for you.  People want to be valued – to know they were here for a reason – that is what fellowship is all about – to bestow honor upon those who expect it the least – a community where one is treated and treats others better than any place on earth.

“Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” I John 4:11 (NIV).

A Child of the King

By Lou David Allen

I stumbled and fell right down,
Silly me, I hate to be a clown.
I was hurt, I knew, really bad,
They all laughed and I was sad.
Mocking, “ You can stand if you try!”
But, all I could do was sit and cry.
So completely embarrassed by it all,
Why did I have to go and fall?
I hung my head in shame,
And thought, “It’s all me to blame.”
Then I heard someone sweetly say,
“Have you hurt yourself, are you O.K.?”
No, it couldn’t possibly be true!
The most popular girl in my school,
Sitting here, by my side,
Unwounding my broken pride.
Afterwards, all agreed she had done me a kindly thing.
But I think more.
I think they had seen a child of the King.

I’ve been to war.

Not a figurative war, which many people have experienced within their unique circumstance, but a real war where bullets fly both ways and mortars and rockets explode with the intent of ending lives.  My war experience, of course, is no longer unusual as the United States continues adding to the longest period of conflict in our history.  I understand the damage a war can do.

Private, figurative wars, the ones without bullets, have been raging for centuries and are just as spiritually damaging as the real wars are physically damaging.  Spiritual wars are waged in our minds as we deal with the loss of loved ones, the breaking of a heart through shattered marriages, the breaking of promises and vows, the loss of stability financial or emotional.  The lists go on and undoubtedly will touch everyone who will read this paragraph.  The private wars have touched my family and me through suicide, cancer, divorce, death…

Once, when I was a little boy, something happened to me that was way beyond my control.  I had sustained a dangerous head wound and was helpless.  My father took me in his arms and carried me to the hospital which was very near to where we lived.  I’m sure my dad lived the event over and over in his mind all the days of his life, even though he rarely mentioned it.  My mom and dad were not young when I was born and our age difference could have made him my grandfather.  He had lost my sister only five years before and must have died figuratively many times as he carried me to medical help.  My father did not cause the accident, would never had let it happen if he had been there. I don’t know what went through his mind as carried me in his arms; perhaps this, “ I would never dream of letting something like this happen to you, but if you will let me, I will love you through this, help you through this, and show you how it will work eventually for your own good.”

In this world bad things happen.  When they do, God is there and He, like my dad, says, “ I did not cause this, I would never plan this horrific thing that has happened to you, but know this, if you let Me, I will love you through this, help you through this, and show you how it will work eventually for you own good.”

Surely God is my salvation,

I will trust and not be afraid.

The LORD, the LORD, is my strength and my defense,

He has become my salvation. Isaiah 12:2 (NIV)

I can still jump as high as I always could, I just can’t stay up as long, my cousin once said.  He was making humorous commentary on the fact that he was getting older, and knew it.  That little funny statement has a great truth embedded.  That is, facts are often overrun by fiction.  Coming from emotional sources rather than logical ones, fictional, emotional ones sometimes seem logical.  I once worked with a man who would hold his hand over his heart and say, “Dave, if it feels good in your heart, it must be right.”  Really? If that were true, the rich young ruler that Jesus interviewed would have been completely O.K. because he “felt” he was O.K. But the one thing he lacked and needed to do, was not in his mindset to do.

Some people today have a great feeling about their acceptance of Jesus, but little regard for what He commanded for full obedience, baptism. Like the rich young ruler, they refuse to finish their acceptance. Movie stars desire to be described as famous, not nearly famous. People should desire to be described as saved, not nearly saved.

“ I tell you the truth no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” John 3:3 (NIV)

“ I tell you the truth, no on can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of the water and of the Spirit.” John 3:5 (NIV)

“ Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Acts 2:38 (NIV)

“ Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” Romans 6:3-4 (NIV)